LORD OF THE RINGS fans will have to wait another four years to get their next big screen fix of the franchise - its prequel THE HOBBIT has been postponed until 2012. Earlier this year (08), it was announced Guillermo del Toro would direct the new film, based on JRR Tolkien's novel. Lord of the Rings Oscar winner Peter Jackson is producing the project, and he and del Toro will pen the screenplay. Sir Ian MCKellen has already signed on to reprise his role of Gandalf, and Andy Serkis is expected to play Gollum once again. Shooting was scheduled to start in New Zealand this winter (08/09), but it has now been postponed until 2010 - with the release day pushed back to 2012. The reason for the delay is unknown.

12/18/2008 10:21:56 PM "Question everything, embrace the bad, and hold on to the good."

IMDB is a great website but not credible for things like dates. It lists the film as 2012 but I feel certain that for now the schedule remains the same. I will check around just in case. I have no choice but to believe in free will.

Anything other than official statements from those involved, I mean. I especially disbelieve anything where there's no source given.

"You ought to begin to understand, Frodo, after all you have heard," said Gandalf. "He hated it and loved it, as he hated and loved himself. He could not get rid of it. He had no will left in the matter."

The first reports were stated as saying it was 2010 and 2011 - then a little more official time line was given with the 2011 and 2012 - what now - 2012 ans 2013?

Pick a number - any number

There are still no official reports coming through though ... so lets wait it out ... meanwhile back at the ranch ... I have Scrabble or Monopoly ... I'll be the car. So who's in

Cheers Elven Swishtail.

Tolkien was a Capricorn!! Russell Crowe for Beorn!!Avatar: Liberace - The other Lord of the Rings.

Quote of The Week: The thing is I always write in the morning, and I know that if I go to the Net I wonít write ... you can start in the most scholarly website and end up at Paris Hilton dot com .. GdT

the official sources. I am sure if there is any noticeable delay, we will hear it from GDT here. It may be true, but I will not believe it until I have a reliable confirmation of it. So don't worry too much too soon. I do not suffer from LotR obsession - I enjoy every minute of it.

I was surprised when I first saw this as an article on Yahoo! News. I knew it couldn't possibly be true. What surprised me is that the World Entertainment News Network, which is apparently the original source, could have gotten this so wrong. If you are interested in how I handled this as the Hobbit news reporter for Hollywood Jesus, you can find my report here. Of course, I have been mistaken about the release date myself, which you can see here. Mark Sommer Hollywood Jesus The Hobbit Whole

Would it be too much to expect that those websites that reported the incorrect information will update their readers with a correction? Celebrimbor: "Pretty rings..." Dwarves: "Pretty rings..." Men: "Pretty rings..." Sauron: "Mine's better."

"Ah, how ironic, the addictive qualities of Sauronís master weapon led to its own destruction. Which just goes to show, kids - if you want two small and noble souls to succeed on a mission of dire importance... send an evil-minded b*****d with them too." - Gandalf's Diaries, final par, by Ufthak.

I think somebody is laughing. I can't decide if the person is up to nefarious tricks or if they were genuinely duped and innocently spread the word.

A couple of days before this was posted on any website, the TORn folks received an email that is pretty much word-for-word of the story I saw. One difference is that the story sent to TORn linked to here which is simply the Hobbit listing on IMDB.com.

Now as many know, IMDB is far from reliable on dates and a it isn't a site meant to be accurate with news, but rather a compilation of information that relies on lots of different sources for info. Somebody, somewhere put "The Hobbit" with a 2012 release in IMDB.com.

So this person, with whatever motive, wrote the story and started sending it around. They saw "2012" on a website and started reporting it as fact. If you go look back and read it the story linked to from TORn main, it has NO attribution, NO source and NO real info except a claim that doesn't make any sense. I suggested and TORn agreed that it shouldn't be posted at all at TORn. It didn't meet even the smallest journalistic standards.

However, the internet is a place where anybody can post anything and so this creates an urgency to post "information" immediately and check on the truth of it later. The internet has created a new level of news racing.

Anyway, once this story started popping up and then getting sent to TORn as a link, well, now it is out there and requires attention.

I wasn't privy to the conversation with GDT about it but he did say in another communication that it had no source and no attribution. So, the movie director definitely had a lot more knowledge about news standards and expectations of outlets actually seeking truth, not just news.

There has been a rash of "news reports" about the next Batman movie on all kinds of websites. You can read that Eddie Murphy, not Johnny Depp as earlier reported, will be playing The Riddler in the next Christopher Nolan Batman movie. You can read about that in a bylined story at the New York Daily News, but I hate to give them clicks for reporting garbage so here is a couple of graphs:

<<Comic book fanboys across the globe are all atwitter after fresh reports that Eddie Murphy will play the Riddler in the next "Batman" movie. The Sun reported today that Christopher Nolan has tapped Murphy for the role in the follow-up film to "The Dark Knight," which is rumored to be titled "Gotham." The unconfirmed rumor contradicts earlier whispers that Johnny Depp would reinvent the role in the new film, which is slated to hit theaters in 2010. Jim Carrey played the part in 1995's "Batman Forever." The Sun also says that "Transformers" star Shia LeBeouf has been tapped to play Robin, and Rachel Weisz will portray Catwoman. Rumors had circulated that that role would go to Cher, 62. Sources say the film will have a cliff-hanger ending, leaving audiences to wonder if Batman survives an explosion at Wayne Towers. "Chris wasn't sure if he wanted to do another movie, but as soon as he decided to, he got the wheels in motion," an insider told the British tabloid. "Eddie's a fantastic addition. Everyone's excited to see what he does as the Riddler." >>The only problem with this story is that Christopher Nolan isn't signed to do another Batman movie and there isn't such thing as a "treatment" for that film, much less a script which are both needed to nail down characters, form budgets and hire actors. There may never (hopefull not!) even be a Riddler. It seems un-Nolanlike that there would be. There is no possibility, no chance, that that story is true but because "The Sun" printed it, the New York Daily News ran with it. Further, Shallon Lester but his byline on what I copied above! All he did is type a story from reading an internet page. How embarassing for him! Batman gets page clicks so sites print anything.

This is all very annoying and damages a lot of Websites because readers are going to lump us all together. Anyway, I am pretty sure that in this case, the source is easy to track and may not have meant harm but may have thought they were funny or they were just being stupid.

Kudos, big time, to Mark for have a little journalistic integrity! I have no choice but to believe in free will.